Five, Five, and Five
by tfbl
Summary: Five Times That It Was Not Love, Five Times It Might Be, and Five Times That It Was.


**Five Times That It Was Not Love, Five Times It Might Be, and Five Times That It Was.**

**Disclaimer: Sylar, Claire, Peter, and Emma are not mine. The rest is.**

**One**

It is not love when Sylar says those things to Claire in the Stanton Hotel. All those remarks about building bridges and forgiveness, growing to love him… it was all just an amusing way to mess with her. It worked very well too.

**Two**

At Peter and Emma Petrelli's funeral in 2067, when their eyes meet over the double coffin and he squeezes her shoulder before walking away through the snow, love does not even remotely factor into the equation.

Those few brief moments that took place between them was simply an aknowdglement of the loss of their mutual friends, as well as a reminder that now, they were the only ones left.

**Three**

All those years Claire spent trying to kill Sylar, every bullet to the head, every time she set him on fire, and every time she slipped poison into his drink… it most certainly was not love. It was a genuine loathing and a very real desire to see him dead.

Every time that Sylar did not retaliate, did not try to kill her in turn did not mean that he loved Claire Benett. It was simply because he did not consider it to be worth his time. After all, neither of them could ever die, no matter how much they may have desired otherwise or what method of demise they attempted.

What would be the point of trying to take his revenge time and time again on the blonde, forever 21 year old cheerleader?

The answer was that there was no point at all, not when she would just snap her bones back into place and try to gut him once again.

Besides, that little game of cat and mouse they had been playing for over two centuries was extremely entertaining. Just because he was reformed didn't mean he couldn't get his kicks through a little bloodshed and violence every now and then.

**Four**

Sometime around the 300 year mark, when she and him began to meet up a couple times a year to fuck each other's brains out in public bathrooms, hotel rooms, cars, churches, and occanshially her apartment… it is not love.

It is simply a desperate attempt to feel a connection with another human being, one whom is as old as they are and whom they do not have to pretend with.

One whom they do not have to worry about becoming injured around, who will not bat an eye if metal is transformed into gold, and the only one who understands just how isolating and lonely being immortal truly is.

**Five**

When Sylar happens upon Claire in a deserted field after a virus has wiped out half of the population and kills her would-be rapist, it is not done out of love for her.

It is because of whatever else he has done within the past 435 years and no matter how little morals he may posses, Sylar has always considered those who commit such a heinous violation to be some of the lowest of scum.

No one should have to suffer through that, not even the woman who spent 260 years trying to kill him.

**MAYBE**

**One**

It might possibly be love when they have become friends after 1,000 and Sylar wants to scalp every one of Claire's boyfriends, not to mention all those people that check out her ass and let loose whistles as she walks by.

On the other hand it's very likely that he is feeling a simple combination of jealously and protectiveness.

When you're not only friends with your deceased best friend's niece, but the two of you have been having sex at semi regular intervals for a little under ten centuries, these types of feelings tend to develop.

**Two**

When Claire follows Sylar to Australia without a second thought (never mind a first), after he accidently kills twelve people, she does not rule out the _possibility_ that she is falling in love with him. She just thinks that it is very unlikely.

**Three**

It _could_ be love when Claire starts to save his life as opposed to trying to end it, when they stick together throughout a post- apocalyptic period of 60 years and 234 years after that, or when the eye contact and touches go on for longer then is strictly necessary.

Although, it could also be because Claire has let go of her anger and has forgiven Sylar that she begins to save his life with the same amount of determination that she had possessed when she had been attempting to end his existence.

Maybe it is due to the fact that they know they will be safer together rather then apart that they remain by each-other's side for everyday of those horrible 50 plus years, and the nearly 300 years after that was simply because they were trying to help each-other deal with the resulting trauma.

As for the lingering looks and touches… those are easily explained by hundreds of years of close proximity and that they have grown to know each-other inside and out. There is also the fact that there is enough comfort, trust, and bridges that have been successfully built between them for them to sleep on the same couch and find security in one-another.

**Four**

When Claire walks across the country, breaks into the only remaining high security prison in Europe, shoots three guards, _and_ nearly gets mulled by a Rottweiler, she is forced to conclude that _just maybe_ she is falling for Sylar.

Seeing as she has done all of this to save Sylar from a medically induced coma, she would have to be the most brain dead idiot on the planet not to realize that her actions are not motivated by mere friendship or unusually strong loyalty.

If _that_ hadn't given her a clue, then the twelve mile stretch through the forest during which Claire uttered not a word of complaint as she was forced to _drag_ his body before those damn drugs wore off would have been an eye opener.

**Five**

Sylar and Claire are forced to face the logical conclusion that their feelings toward each-other have begun to deepen into something _more _after 1,540 years.

When both of them find that they do not want to have sex with anyone else, but decide to put their "hot and heavy times" with each-other on hold because neither want to screw up whatever is growing between them, it's a little hard not to see the truth.

**IT IS LOVE**

**One**

When Claire calls him her hero, after Sylar realizes that he would do anything for her, and when they both begin to picture children with raven black hair and dark hazel eyes, it would be pointless to deny what is staring them in the face.

**Two**

They have been together 400 years before each are ready to admit that the other is their strength as well as their weakness.

For a man who had once not been able to tolerate any form of weakness, and a woman who had never been able to relay on the strength of those around her, Sylar and Claire are more then ok with this development.

**Three**

After Hiro travels through time and attempts to kill Sylar, the mostly reformed physopath does not murder the annoyingly cheerful Japanese man when Claire is accidently stabbed through the heart.

Sylar grants him mercy not because he no longer posses the capability to kill (this man had hurt _his_ Claire, and for that he deserved to die!), but because Claire had asked him not to.

For her, and only for her, Sylar would do this. He would rein in that voice inside of him that screamed for crimson blood coating his hands and allow this man to escape back to his own time, whenever that might be.

**Four**

Unlike some woman, Claire had always found scars to be unappealing. They did not speak of a dangerous dare devil, one who lived on the edge and didn't care about rules or society. Instead, Claire saw those marks for what, more often then not, they truly represented.

Pain and suffering.

Fear and anger.

Death barely survived and moments of lost hope.

That was before.

That was before she and Sylar began to have sex nearly 2,000 years ago, before she became comftable seeing him naked in broad daylight, before she knew him, and before she fell in love with him.

Now, as Claire looks at the scars littering Sylar's body, as she feels them underneath her fingers or traces them with her tongue, she knows what they represent.

Strength, remorse, and bravery.

Determination for life and a thousand lifetimes of suffering overcome.

Forgiveness that was given against all odds, love that was lost, and centuries of hate that were no more.

It is because of her love for her husband that Claire is now able to see not only the ugliness that scars signify, but the beauty as well.

**Five**

This small girl that sleeps between them was not conceived out of hate.

Her lily white skin, raven black curls, and eyes of mossy emerald did not combine due to a chance encounter or 30 minutes in the back seat of a car.

She is not the result of fear driven compliance nor was she considered to be a mistake.

She is the tangible proof that the emotion that lies between Sylar and Claire Bennet is undeniably, unbelievingly, and unconditionally… love.

**END**

**What do you think?**


End file.
